GIS is widely understood to be mapping technology. Answering questions like “How do i get from A to B?”. It is true that maps are the common output from a GIS, but in reality the technology answers any and all location based questions. In the commercial sector these are often questions which today go unanswered. But, as we will discuss in this post, staying focused on and changing workflows is the key to commercial GIS success.

Changing Workflows is the key to Commercial GIS Success

Let’s start by discussing what we mean by workflows with some examples:

Property Listing in Real Estate

Workflow: “Today to list a new property on our web site or listings service, we first visit the property and make notes, take pictures. Next we input this information into a computer system. Once completed we update our web site with this new information, and share the listing with public property listing services.”

Challenge: Getting a new property listed so we can start marketing and selling can take up to a week.

GIS and Commercial Real Estate Disruption In 2015

Commercial real estate (CRE) has been slow in adopting new technology. The expense involved, and the time required to learn how to use the technology as well as incorporate it into daily operations are common reasons. But in an ever more competitive environment, those not looking to improve their workflows are rapidly being left behind.

Commercial real estate is about closing deals. The smoother the process the better. New technology is helping to provide dramatic improvements in process. There are signs that 2015 will be a watershed year in terms of new technology and CRM.

Digital mapping is becoming increasingly more popular across the real estate industry. The technology itself has been experiencing rapid evolution, and is now more user-friendly, accessible and affordable. With the popularity of mobile devices, new apps are becoming available which provide access to both digital maps and location based analysis to CRM agents, brokers and clients.

In this article we will discuss some of the applications of digital mapping technology in CRM.

With the 2016 elections just around the corner, we wondered how many organizations will be using maps and GIS (or location intelligence) to help boost their campaign. If you aren’t we will discuss in the article how WebMapSolutions are helping a number of different organizations boost their election campaigns.

Will you be using GIS and maps for your 2016 election campaign?

(GIS) can literally take dozens of pages of complex information and make a single, multicolored map that shows factors such as household density, family size, or racial and socioeconomic composition of neighborhoods along with their implied political and social attitudes where available from public opinion data” (Novotny & Jacobs)

GIS (can be used) to analyze fundraising patterns … and target areas that likely contained a large number of potential donors (Jardine, 2003)